Investor-Citizenship Concept in Comparative Law and Turkish Law: Ius Pecuniae

Recently, many states have started to develop programs that facilitate the citizenship applications of wealthy individuals investing in their adopted countries. In comparative law, some states entitle the investors to reside in the country, and the acquisition of citizenship comes after the usual requirements for residency and other conditions are met. On the other hand, in some of the other state and administration practices, investors are allowed to acquire citizenship directly, without going through the normal naturalization procedures. The main criticism of the doctrine toward investor citizenship concept is the lack of a genuine link, based on the notion of the Nottebohm case of the International Court of Justice, between the individual and the state and society. The regulation enabling foreign investors to acquire Turkish citizenship has recently been approved in Turkish law, by means of the sub-paragraph (b) added to the first paragraph of Article 12 of the Turkish Citizenship Act No. 5901. The main point of criticism in the doctrine is also valid for Turkish law, in terms of certain types of investment, which are enshrined in the aforementioned Act